Thursday, 10 August 2017

George
Cole was born in South London in 1925, but was abandoned by his natural mother
and adopted by the Cole family. They were not well off, and George joined the
acting profession as a means of escaping a life of drudgery. This upbringing in
downtown Tooting served him well – he specialised in playing the kind of
character that dodges and cheats his way out of trouble or into a bit of cash.
No doubt he came into contact with several people like this as he was growing
up. In the 1950s, if the role called for a spiv, George Cole was called in. For
a great example of this, see the 1955 film ‘Where There’s a Will’.

George
was 29 years old when he first played the role of Flash Harry, and he stuck with
this character longer than Alastair Sim or Joyce Grenfell stuck with theirs. I
get the feeling that this was more for financial reasons than dedication – he wasn’t
hugely famous and handsomely paid. Every
role is a gift to a jobbing actor who is worried about falling back into the
poverty he once knew.

In
a television interview given to Michael Aspel in the 1980s, George acknowledges
the direct line travelling from Flash Harry to Arthur Daley, his most famous spiv
role of all. And he is on record as stating that although Arthur Daley served
him well, he personally found him an abhorrent character, pitying anyone who
has someone like him as a husband or father.
You could say the same about Flash Harry. Flash is a funny character –
as long as you don’t analyse his actions. If this sort of person was to appear
on screen today, there would be questions asked. On paper, he is a sleaze -
hanging around a girls’ school, selling on their contraband and arranging
lucrative weddings for the sixth formers. But of course, in a film from times
that are considered to be more innocent and with the loveable George Cole in
the part, you have to like him. When you hear that lopsided music hall tune and
see the shrubbery tremble, you know you’re in for a chuckle.

I
recently wrote a blog on some of my film and theatre favourites for the delightful Carry on
Blogging – have a look here:

Wednesday, 26 July 2017

Back
in 2012 I wrote a History Usherette blogpost on ‘The Belles of St Trinians’. I
gave it the title ‘In Flagrante Delicto’ and it got an increased amount of page
views than was usual. This, I concluded, had to be down to the cheeky title. I
called it this because it is the St Trinians school motto – as shown in a scene
in the film. Strictly translated from the Latin, this motto means ‘In blazing
offence’ or to give it a more straightforward meaning ‘caught in the act’. The
more cheeky aspect of this phrase related to divorce cases – it was a coy legal
term to state that one of the parties to the divorce had been caught in the
physical act of adultery. This was in the days where, if you wanted a divorce,
you had to demonstrate adultery - whether it had actually been committed or
not. People were often paid to pretend that they’d seen you at it; or to be a
fictional third party.

But
the original Latin term led me to muse on the theme of arson in the St Trinians
films. It is the catalyst for two of Alastair Sim’s best lines in ‘Belles’.
Firstly, when Miss Fritton’s niece is threatened with expulsion for burning
down the Sports Pavilion and the young lady complains that the girl who burned
down the Gym wasn’t punished:

“The
Gym was insured, the Sports Pavilion was not.”

And
then:

“I
WILL NOT have continual arson in my school!”

Then
of course, ‘Pure Hell’ begins with the schoolgirls on trial for burning down
the school, where they are eventually acquitted of arson. Why did Launder and
Gilliat repeat this motif? I suppose it is because fire is the ultimate
destructor. In the 1950s, little girls were meant to be anything but destructive.
The female was meant to be nurturer, creator. The most outrageous thing
contrary to this is to depict them as a wilfully destructive bunch, using fire
to achieve their desired outcomes. I wonder if this was a little bit shocking to
contemporary audiences? Did Launder and Gilliat use the motif to grab attention
for their films? Was this their feminism coming to the fore again, showing the
metaphorical lengths that girls had to go to in order to escape their
prescribed role in society?

Wednesday, 5 July 2017

Joyce
Grenfell was born in 1910 and was therefore 44 years old on her first St
Trinians outing. In ‘Belles’ she played
the local police sergeant, Ruby Gates, who was sent to work at the school
undercover. Her “teacher” name, given to her under protest, was Chloe Crawley (“But
they’ll call me Creepy Crawley!”). Parallel to the main story, we learn about
Ruby and her long term engagement to the less than enthusiastic Superintendent
Kemp-Bird. Frankly, he uses her romantic adoration of him to get her to do his
dirty work.

Creepy Crawley

Ruby
Gates returned in two sequels – ‘Blue Murder’ then ‘Pure Hell’. In the first,
she goes undercover again, this time on a school European bus tour where she
and Terry-Thomas string each other along. In ‘Pure Hell’, she has to stow away
on a lifeboat as some of the schoolgirls go on ‘a tour of the Greek Islands’.
In this final outing she does get Kemp-Bird as far as the church…until news of
further shenanigins at St Trinians reaches him just in the nick of time. Poor
Ruby.

The
character of Ruby Gates is endearing and also amusing. Old fashioned with a
plummy turn of phrase, you root for the poor old girl even though she is not on
the side of our St Trinians heroines. I think that this is a particularly
clever trick, to be able to draw out our sympathy in this way. This is down to
Joyce’s loveable talents. She patently liked people and was acutely observant,
being able to poke fun at different types without being unkind. I suspect that
Ruby is an amalgam of many women that Joyce had come across, particularly in
her war work and through her attendance at Womens’ Institute meetings.

Just a crazy, mixed up policewoman

Joyce
was born in London to an American mother and British/American father. Her
mother was the sister of Nancy Astor and so Joyce was well connected yet not
snobbish. In the early days of her marriage she was not rich and often depended
on the kindness of her Aunt Nancy…who would then take advantage of this control
to try and smother Joyce’s early forays onto the stage. But those monologues
that she began with were soon in demand in revues and on the radio. Her career
was cemented during World War Two as she tirelessly toured for ENSA, singing
and reciting to troops in the Middle East and beyond. There were a few brief
early film parts before St Trinians, most notably in ‘The Happiest Days of Your
Life’ which took Joyce directly to the part of Ruby Gates.

I wrote a collection of short stories inspired by moments in Joyce's career - you can get them on Amazon here

Monday, 19 June 2017

I’ve
been looking at places where ‘Belles’ was filmed, thanks to websites such as
the excellent Reel Streets. There are three stand out locations:

All
Nations College, Easneye, Stanstead Abbots, Herts

Littleton
Park House (Shepperton Studios), Middlesex

Great
Dunmow, Essex

The
first two locations stood in for the school itself, while Great Dunmow provided
the location of the unfortunate nearby village.

All
Nations College was previously known as Easneye mansion, and was built in the
mid 19th century to a design by Alfred Waterhouse (also responsible
for the Natural History Museum and the magnificent Manchester Town Hall). The
mansion was commissioned by a brewing family called Buxton – one of whom was responsible
for pushing the Emancipation of Slaves Bill through Parliament.

To
me, the best bit is that the Buxtons popularised beer as a healthier
alternative to gin…and then we see the St Trinians girls using the place to
make their own moonshine!

A familiar looking Lodge House - remember Ruby Gates galloping by?

Littleton
Park House has a lengthier early history, being the home of local nobility
dating back to the 17th Century. It is an integral part of
Shepperton Studios and was therefore not a stranger to the camera back then –
and it remains a photogenic backdrop today. The house was first involved in the
embryonic industry in the 1930s, having being bought by a businessman for the
sole purpose of making films. As an interesting aside, during World War Two the
studio’s expertise in prop building was put to excellent use when it was commissioned
to build dummy aircraft to baffle the Luftwaffe. These days, you can get
married there, probably if you have lots of money…I bet Flash Harry’s behind
that idea…an extension to his marriage bureau?

Great
Dunmow has a long and very British history. In the mid 20th Century
there was a nearby airbase, used by both the RAF and the US Airforce. Seems
rather a fitting location for Flash Harry and the Six Formers…

Thursday, 8 June 2017

Alastair
Sim was born in 1900, and so was 54 years old when headmistress Miss Fritton
was gifted to the world in ‘The Belles of St Trinians.’ He also played her brother,
Clarence Fritton and made a much reduced return in the 1957 sequel ‘Blue Murder
at St Trinians’. As Miss Fritton – and Clarence -
Sim brings a wonderful air of genteel crookedness to delight us throughout the
film. In terms of drag roles, nothing could ever surpass this one, in my opinion.
Sim doesn’t pile on fake femininity, he remains the character actor that we
love except with a string of pearls and a softer voice. We believe wholly in
Miss Fritton as a female character, which is tribute to the talent behind her.

Sim
began making films in the mid 1930s – a stalwart of the quota quickies. In 1936
he appeared in six films! As war broke out he was appearing in the ‘Inspector
Hornleigh’ films, where he first came into contact with Launder and Gilliat. He
was also a stage success – here’s a programme from the wartime play ‘Cottage to Let’ from my own
collection. Note fellow St Trinians actors in the cast – George Cole and
Thorley Walters.

Sim
made his most memorable films in the post war years including the first of the
Ealing comedies ‘Hue and Cry’ (1946). I recommend ‘The Green Man’, ‘The
Happiest Days of Your Life’ and ‘Scrooge’. In 1954, the year of ‘Belles’, Sim
also starred in the film of the fantastic JB Priestley play ‘An Inspector Calls’.
Compare the two roles and marvel at his versatility.

Tuesday, 30 May 2017

Launder
and Gilliat were the two men behind the first St Trinians films. Both wrote and
produced ‘Belles’, and Launder directed it. The prolific pair had a long and
successful career in films – as screenwriters, producers and directors in
various combinations. There are far too many films to list here. But have a
look at some of their work in the 1940s and 1950s:

·Millions
Like Us (1943)

·Two
Thousand Women (1944)

·The
Happiest Days of your Life (1950)

·The
Belles of St Trinians (1954)

‘Millions
Like Us’ concentrated on the war effort of the women in the factories. The men
are incidental. ‘2000 Women’ follows a group of female prisoners of war using a
stellar female cast and hardly any men that you’ve ever heard of. ‘Happiest
Days…’ shows a solid female teaching staff who have more sense and
resourcefulness than their male counterparts. Then along comes ‘Belles’ where
the male lead plays a female character and the entire population of a girls' school sticks two fingers up to authority and expectations.

Would
a modern film studio come up with a new story idea that is so female
orientated, I wonder?

Given
the period, this is all quite remarkable. Despite war efforts, women were still
‘the weaker sex’ and were expected to retreat back into the home in 1945 and be
good wives and mothers. Launder and
Gilliat often reminded the world that this ‘weaker sex’ thing was poppycock. Thanks, lads.

Thursday, 25 May 2017

‘Blue
Murder at St Trinians’ was released in December 1957. Harold Macmillan was the Prime Minister,
representing the Conservative Party. Looking at lists of notable events in this
particular month, the first televised Queen’s Speech on Christmas Day is the
most eye-catching.

Scrolling
back, this was a year for technological advances. Jodrell Bank Observatory became operational
and the television programme ‘The Sky at Night’ was broadcast for the first
time. The first Premium Bonds were also drawn by ‘ERNIE’. No doubt much was
learned from the fire that broke out at Windscale nuclear plant.

Elsewhere,
it was a year of embryonic development. This was the year when Lennon met
McCartney and when the Wolfenden Report was published, recommending
legalisation of homosexuality.

Things
were happening that, though it was not immediately apparent, would lead to
major changes further down the line. We were at last starting to look beyond
little Britain…and to reflect that, St Trinians school went to Rome!

Thursday, 18 May 2017

In
the book of letters between Joyce Grenfell and her friend Virginia Graham (‘Joyce
& Ginnie’), there is something rather odd. On 12 September 1949, Joyce is
recorded as writing:

“…I spent the afternoon packing in order to come
down here [Hindhead] for filming St Trinian’s.”

As
the letter goes on, it becomes clear that she is talking about the filming of “The
Happiest Days of Your Life”. The notes, written by Janie Hampton, state that “Happiest
Days…” was the first of the five St Trinian’s films directed by Frank Launder.

This
is all very confusing. If you were to include this film then the total would be
six. But I would not include “Happiest Days” in the St Trinian’s list. Neither
of the schools that this film is about is called St Trinian’s. The children are
not the stars and they are far too well behaved. It is the headteachers and the
teachers that the farce revolves around.

The
mystery is why did Joyce refer to it as one? Is this down to the editor of her
letters getting confused and making a slip? Or did Joyce really write this and
did Launder and Gilliat see “Happiest Days…” as their St Trinian’s launchpad?

At
any rate, although I would never include it as part of the series, it’s a
fantastic film and essential background viewing to see an embryonic “Chloe
Crawley” making herself at home in a gymslip.

Thursday, 11 May 2017

Classic
British cinema has long been the inspiration for my writing. Two of my short
story collections have focussed on the audience for a specific film (‘A
Canterbury Tale’ and ‘I Know Where I’m Going’). Another collection was peopled
by a range of characters all affected in some way by the work of Joyce
Grenfell.

My
intention is that my next short story collection will be connected to Launder
and Gilliat’s earlier St Trinians films. These are much loved and also, I
think, quite important in their own little way. This time, I also hope to take
a step closer to the films in the stories that I write. Rather than focussing
on the audience, I’d like the films and their stars to take a bow in some way.
How I will do this, I’m not quite sure yet. This proposal is more challenging
to me as a writer and involves research into the making of the films, those
involved in this and the contemporary scene.

So
from this point onwards, The History Usherette will shine her torch on four
films in a series of posts, perhaps lasting for a year. I’ll share all my
discoveries on here and hopefully bring us all a bit of classic film joy along
the way.

Britain
in the Time of St Trinians 1

‘The Belles of St Trinians’ was released in
September 1954. Winston Churchill was Prime Minister again, representing the
Conservative Party. But change was in the air. Coincidentally, in the same
month as the film was released, Britain’s first purpose-built comprehensive
school was opened. Modernist architecture fans will be interested to know that
the Smithsons’ Hunstanton School also opened at this time.

In the same month, The Wolfenden Committee sat for
the first time, looking at the issues of homosexuality and prostitution. It was
a long road, but legalisation of homosexuality over a decade later had its
roots here.

However, earlier on in 1954, while the film was in
production notable events included the final end of rationing and the Donald
McGill trial (July). Donald McGill is the man behind those iconic saucy seaside
postcards. They are Carry On films in one innuendo-laden cartoon. We all love
them now but back then, McGill was actually accused of pedalling obscene
publications, tried and fined £50. Many postcards were sadly destroyed. Both of
these events serve to illustrate what a different place 1954 was. Despite the
baby steps towards a more liberal society, Britain was a place where you still
couldn’t just go to the shops and buy whatever you wanted. A place where
certain members of society thought us lower echelons would be corrupted by
seeing postcards like the one below.

Yet
people went to the pictures and watched a cross-dressing man run a girl’s
school full of delinquents while illegally gambling on the horses….

Sunday, 7 May 2017

In
the last blog post I talked about the St Trinians films being the link between
the Ealing comedies and Carry On. Here’s
my notes on which actors appeared in St Trinians who had also appeared in the
Ealing films; or who went on to appear in a Carry On film. In the list of Carry On films, unless it is
blindingly obvious, I have noted just one of their appearances, there may have
been others.

Thursday, 4 May 2017

Classic
British cinema has long been the inspiration for my writing. Two of my short
story collections have focussed on the audience for a specific film (‘A
Canterbury Tale’ and ‘I Know Where I’m Going’). Another collection was peopled
by a range of characters all affected in some way by the work of Joyce
Grenfell.

My
intention is that my next short story collection will be connected to Launder
and Gilliat’s earlier St Trinians films. These are much loved and also, I
think, quite important in their own little way. This time, I also hope to take
a step closer to the films in the stories that I write. Rather than focussing
on the audience, I’d like the films and their stars to take a bow in some way.
How I will do this, I’m not quite sure yet. This proposal is more challenging
to me as a writer and involves research into the making of the films, those
involved in this and the contemporary scene.

So
from this point onwards, The History Usherette will shine her torch on four St Trinians films in a series of posts, perhaps lasting for a year. I’ll share all my
discoveries on here and hopefully bring us all a bit of classic film joy along
the way.

The Link Between Ealing and Carry OnComing
just after the heyday of the Ealing Comedies and before the Carry On series,
the early St Trinians films are a mixture of both. From the Ealing genre, they
take a poke at the sheer daftness of the British Establishment. In films like ‘Passport
to Pimlico’ and ‘Whisky Galore’, petty bureaucracy causes havoc; while in ‘Kind
Hearts and Coronets’ a commoner picks off a line of Dukes in order to claim the
title for himself. In many of these films, you are encouraged to want the
little man to triumph. What a disappointing ending to ‘The Lavender Hill Mob’,
when we realise that the game’s up for Alec Guinness. In the St Trinians films,
it is time for the little girl to triumph. Young girls have always been the
underdog in traditional British society until very recent times. Here, they
eschew prescribed, boring education for an early plunge into economic
shortcuts. They outwit the law and the Ministry of Education. They are wicked
beyond redemption but we so want them to succeed.

Unlike
the Boulting Brothers’ films from the contemporary period, there is no
underlying message though, this is all for fun. Like Carry On films, which
launched a year after the second St Trinians film. I believe that Carry On does owe a little to
the St Trinians series. Not least sharing several cast members (I will explain
more in my next post). Where St Trinians became a kind of brand name for a
series…Carry On soon followed. I may be proved wrong, but I believe that St
Trinians was the first film series with a name repetition in this manner. The difference
is of course that each Carry On was a totally different story with the same
actors playing different characters (though you could argue that Sid was always
playing Sid!). But there is a direct line between the two – a series of brand
name films populated by familiar faces playing memorable characters. ‘Flash
Harry’ became almost as much a part of our national psyche as Matron (especially
when he transformed into Arthur Daley…)Have a look at my Beginner's Guide to British Cinema

Wednesday, 3 May 2017

I
put this blog to bed at the end of last year, but now I have decided to give it
a prod with a sharp stick and bring it out of hibernation. But rather than each
post focus on a different film, I am about to shine a spotlight onto a cinematic
series. Some inspiration for this comes from my blogging friend Graeme, who
runs the hugely popular Carry on Blogging site – I urge you to visit it here: http://carryonfan.blogspot.co.uk/

Classic
British cinema has long been the inspiration for my writing. Two of my short
story collections have focussed on the audience for a specific film (‘A
Canterbury Tale’ and ‘I Know Where I’m Going’). Another collection was peopled
by a range of characters all affected in some way by the work of Joyce
Grenfell.

My
intention is that my next short story collection will be connected to Launder
and Gilliat’s earlier St Trinians films. These are much loved and also, I
think, quite important in their own little way. This time, I also hope to take
a step closer to the films in the stories that I write. Rather than focussing
on the audience, I’d like the films and their stars to take a bow in some way.
How I will do this, I’m not quite sure yet. This proposal is more challenging
to me as a writer and involves research into the making of the films, those
involved in this and the contemporary scene.

So
from this point onwards, The History Usherette will shine her torch on four
films in a series of posts, perhaps lasting for a year. I’ll share all my
discoveries on here and hopefully bring us all a bit of classic film joy along
the way.

The
Films:

·The
Belles of St Trinians (1954)

·Blue
Murder at St Trinians (1957)

·The
Pure Hell of St Trinians (1960)

·The
Great St Trinians Train Robbery (1966)

There
will probably be less emphasis on the fourth one. A further Launder and Gilliat
St Trinians film was made in 1980, but this falls out of the Usherette’s time
frame. And as is the case with the Train Robbery film, many original cast
members were missing and it just isn’t the same. It is generally agreed that as the series
progressed, the quality dropped. Star ratings for the Train Robbery film are
never generous.

As
anyone who knows the Usherette is aware…if Ruby Gates isn’t in it, then, well…what’s
the point?